On Sun, 29 Jun 2003 17:13:36 +0930, "Kasper Kowalski"
<kasper.kowalski@no-spam> wrote:
>> I'm less concerned about the road toll than about making cities more
>> liveable.. There's more to urban life than driving..
>
>Slower cars, stop/starting more often make a city less liveable. Dropping
>default limits to 50 won't do the environment much good.
It does wonders for making people realise it's faster to ride a bike
than drive..
PC
"PC" <get@no-spam> wrote in message
news:3efe9ab0.93206734@no-spam
> On Sun, 29 Jun 2003 17:13:36 +0930, "Kasper Kowalski"
> <kasper.kowalski@no-spam> wrote:
>
> >> I'm less concerned about the road toll than about making cities more
> >> liveable.. There's more to urban life than driving..
> >
> >Slower cars, stop/starting more often make a city less liveable. Dropping
> >default limits to 50 won't do the environment much good.
>
> It does wonders for making people realise it's faster to ride a bike
> than drive..
Depends when/where you drive. Also assumes one would even like getting on a
bike - I hate it.
KK
On Sun, 29 Jun 2003 17:33:16 +0930, "Kasper Kowalski"
<kasper.kowalski@no-spam> wrote:
>> >Slower cars, stop/starting more often make a city less liveable. Dropping
>> >default limits to 50 won't do the environment much good.
>>
>> It does wonders for making people realise it's faster to ride a bike
>> than drive..
>
>Depends when/where you drive. Also assumes one would even like
>getting on a bike - I hate it.
Yeah, so did I originally.. I'm still not quite ready to rely on it
for 100% of my transportation requirements long term, though I did
actually do it for a few months last year.. It is however much less
irritating when the bike is set up properly..
A 12 inch wide touring saddle (far more comfy than most saddles),
proper road tyres that let you go faster with less effort, use of
chain lubricant that prevents gears from siezing up, while increasing
the life of the chain, proper hard soled shoes with cleats that lock
them into your pedals to let you power both on the downswing and
upswing, while forcing you to maintain a correct foot-pedal position,
both of which make you go faster using less effort etc.. Also, proper
cycling attire helps to reduce the effort you need to make to attain a
similar speed (cycling in jeans for example makes my legs ache)..
It gets better the more effort you put into it, and is almost
tolerable.. You just need a backup for the times you really don't
want to cycle, or when you give up half way, and the train kinda helps
there..
PC
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 20:19:36 +1000
PC wrote:
...
>> Slower cars, stop/starting more often make a city
>> less liveable. Dropping default limits to 50 won't
>> do the environment much good.
...
> It does wonders for making people realise it's
> faster to ride a bike than drive..
...
In very select conditions. My average travel speed in
commuting to work, as well as driving to things outside of
work, far exceeds what I could achieve on a bike.
--
--
Forg! -DUH#6=- (Y1)
"...
this crazy Forg surrounds me
..."
[Live - "When Dolphins Cry"]
On Sun, 29 Jun 2003 20:19:36 +1000, Forg <Forg@no-spam> wrote:
> >> Slower cars, stop/starting more often make a city
> >> less liveable. Dropping default limits to 50 won't
> >> do the environment much good.
> > It does wonders for making people realise it's
> > faster to ride a bike than drive..
>In very select conditions. My average travel speed in
>commuting to work, as well as driving to things outside of
>work, far exceeds what I could achieve on a bike.
True enough, and yeah, it's not for everybody, but it does come down
to individual circumstances.. If you look into it a little further,
you may find you still come out ahead on a treadly..
In my case, it's 11.3km by the most direct semi-flat back street
route, cycling is 29-33 mins, a motorcycle 25 mins (via CityLink), the
trams 60 mins.. Riding means I shower when I get to work instead of
before I leave, so I don't lose any extra time there..
If I rode every day, I lose 80 minutes a week.. In return for those
80 minutes, I get 330 minutes of aerobic exercise, meaning I don't
need to join a gym, and if I did join one, I'd sure hope I spend more
than 80 minutes a week there.. Three 90 minute workouts plus car
travel there and back and showers would be about 7 1/2 hours a week,
so I'm actually way ahead..
I also don't have to pay for fuel (though the cost of cycling apparel
and accessories kinda negates that)..
Sure it's only 29-33 minutes after a year and a half, and started out
around 2 hours, went down to 45 minutes fairly soon, and gradually
came down over that time, it still holds.. If you factor in the
exercise you should be doing, you can have a much greater differential
(read commute much further than 11km) and still be way ahead cycling,
even if it's only a few days a week..
PC
"PC" <get@no-spam> wrote in message
news:3efe9f4b.94386120@no-spam
> Yeah, so did I originally.. I'm still not quite ready to rely on it
> for 100% of my transportation requirements long term, though I did
> actually do it for a few months last year.. It is however much less
> irritating when the bike is set up properly..
>
> A 12 inch wide touring saddle (far more comfy than most saddles),
Yikes!!!! Yes, it sure would be. My standard touring saddle is 6" wide, an
8" wide saddle is *very* wide. A 12" saddle is a lounge chair, commonly
found on Harleys.
> proper road tyres that let you go faster with less effort, use of
> chain lubricant that prevents gears from siezing up, while increasing
> the life of the chain, proper hard soled shoes with cleats that lock
> them into your pedals to let you power both on the downswing and
> upswing, while forcing you to maintain a correct foot-pedal position,
> both of which make you go faster using less effort etc.. Also, proper
> cycling attire helps to reduce the effort you need to make to attain a
> similar speed (cycling in jeans for example makes my legs ache)..
Agree fully with all your other advice on setting up a bike for comfortable
transport. Add good lights( I prefer dynamo as they're always there, no flat
batteries) and for Melbourne winters, lightweight plastic mudguads to keep
you dry.
Cheers
Peter
>
> It gets better the more effort you put into it, and is almost
> tolerable.. You just need a backup for the times you really don't
> want to cycle, or when you give up half way, and the train kinda helps
> there..
>
>
> PC
>
On Thu, 3 Jul 2003 12:07:50 +1000, "Peter Signorini"
<petesig@no-spam> wrote:
>> Yeah, so did I originally.. I'm still not quite ready to rely on it
>> for 100% of my transportation requirements long term, though I did
>> actually do it for a few months last year.. It is however much less
>> irritating when the bike is set up properly..
>>
>> A 12 inch wide touring saddle (far more comfy than most saddles),
>
>Yikes!!!! Yes, it sure would be. My standard touring saddle is 6" wide, an
>8" wide saddle is *very* wide. A 12" saddle is a lounge chair, commonly
>found on Harleys.
Harley saddles tend not to curve into a 1.5" ball knocker at the front
though..
>Agree fully with all your other advice on setting up a bike for comfortable
>transport. Add good lights( I prefer dynamo as they're always there, no flat
>batteries) and for Melbourne winters, lightweight plastic mudguads to keep
>you dry.
My night vision is fine, so I have little need for lights.. The
latteries on my LED flashers last for over six months anyway..
PC
In article <3f0394b6.419442296@no-spam>, PC wrote:
> My night vision is fine, so I have little need for lights.. The
> latteries on my LED flashers last for over six months anyway..
It depends where you are, but I have sometimes felt that lights reduce
my field of vision (e.g. out on a bike path in the open with enough
moonlight to see without lights). In that case with the lights my eyes
have to adjust to that level of light and then I can't see anything
beyond them.
--
Jeremy Lunn
Melbourne, Australia
Homepage: http://www.austux.net/
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